Here's a bizarre and interesting story from the Columbus Dispatch about Jack Johnson, who played prep hockey for the elite Shattuck-St. Mary's program in Faribault:
On the morning of Oct. 7, two days before the Blue Jackets opened the 2014-15 season, Jack Johnson left his Ferrari parked in the garage of his Dublin apartment and drove his BMW to a federal courthouse Downtown to file for bankruptcy. Johnson has earned more than $18 million during his nine-year NHL career, not including the $5 million he will be paid this season by the Blue Jackets.
Almost all of the money is gone, and some of his future earnings have already been promised — which is why Johnson, surrounded by a new team of financial advisers and an attorney, signed his financial surrender. The scene was nearly four years in the making, after a string of risky loans at high interest rates; defaults on those loans, resulting in huge fees and even higher interest rates; and three lawsuits against Johnson, two of which have been settled and one that's pending.
"I'd say I picked the wrong people who led me down the wrong path," Johnson, a 27-year-old defenseman, told The Dispatch last week. "I've got people in place who are going to fix everything now. It's something I should have done a long time ago." He has declined to comment further. But sources close to Johnson have told The Dispatch that his own parents — Jack Sr. and Tina Johnson — are among the "wrong people" who led him astray financially.
The story notes that Johnson's bankruptcy filing lists assets of less than $50K and debts that are in excess of $10 million.
Crazy, sad story of what — according to the reporting in the story — is a case a pro athlete having no idea what to do with all his money and of his parents taking complete advantage of him.
